


You Sound Just Like Your Mother

by SparksofCreativity



Category: RWBY
Genre: Pre-RWBY, Raven remembers Summer, Spoilers: Volume 5 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-04 03:29:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16338974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparksofCreativity/pseuds/SparksofCreativity
Summary: Raven meets Ruby Rose, and for a moment, all she can see is Summer.





	You Sound Just Like Your Mother

_There is no beating Salem!_

She sees the small girl with the red cape and silver eyes, the folded scythe she knows is inspired by Qrow’s, but she blinks and the cape turns white and the red turns black and she’s eighteen -

**We’ve done things most people would call impossible!**

She’s staring down a Grimm the size of a train car, her hand drawing out the hilt of her sword as it licks its lips and there’s a flash of white petals, a burst of black dust, and a small girl in a white cape holding a pair of blades.  **  
**

The girl turns to her and grins. “I guess we’re partners, huh? I’m Summer Rose.”

She frowns and sheaths her sword, turning back to the forest.

“Don’t slow me down,” she says gruffly, forcing her heartbeat to slow as she realizes she could’ve died before the school year even started. Could’ve left Qrow and the tribe to fend for themselves before they even had a chance to move forward.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Summer said cheerfully, appearing beside her in a flash of petals. She pointed a thumb to her left. “But we need to be heading that way to reach the temple.”

She doesn’t argue, realizing her sense of direction had been knocked askew when she saw the Grimm. Briefly, she wonders if Qrow is okay and contemplated going through her portal to him -

But Summer is already on the move, her white cape a beacon for Raven to follow.

**And I know the only reason we were able to do it is because we didn’t do it alone!**

She doesn’t pay much mind to Qrow’s partner, a blond named Taiyang. He flirts with her and Summer - he’s here to make connections, to make friends. She’s here to learn. Team STRQ is her mission, nothing more.

At least, she thinks so, until Summer starts growing on her. She diffuses conflicts easily, soothes Raven’s nerves and smooths her rough edges. She plans training sessions, ways for them to bond as a team, taking her role as leader far more seriously than Raven expected of any student.

Same as she’s known Qrow’s Semblance is misfortune, and Summer’s is turning into a burst of rose petals, she knows she can make portals to the people she loves, and it’s with a sinking heart that she realizes Summer has a portal all her own. She has to use it on their first mission, when their Huntsman falls and the team gets separated.

**We had people to teach us! People to help us!**

Old Professor Ozpin has an interest in them, she realizes early on. He bends the rules for them, gives them extra missions. He becomes their mentor in their time as students, someone they trust inherently.

Then he offers her and Qrow a  _gift_ after they graduate, and she wonders if that trust was misplaced.

Qrow revels in it - “We can fly, hide in plain sight and see and hear more than we can as regular humans,” he insists, turning into his namesake bird and circling her, landing on her shoulder and rustling his beak around in her hair affectionately.

She can’t deny that it’s exhilarating, rushing through the sky as a clever corvid - but she feels her body compress and her mind condense and she wonders if, were she to stay as a raven too long, would she be unable to turn back?

Her team is eager to help Oz with his fight against the Grimm, his war against Salem, and she can’t help but follow them. Tai takes a position at Signal, Summer goes on missions like she always planned, and she and Qrow are spies, gathering information and flying around Remnant as corvids, unseen and unknown. She gets more used to her feathered form, settling into flight and freedom like she settles into the blankets on her bed after a mission.

**Work with us!**

Tai has worn her down and won her over long since first year, earning his own portal, and now there’s a little bundle with wild blonde hair and bright purple eyes. They’re peaceful, happy; the island is quaint and small - Tai teaches at Signal, Summer and Qrow go on missions -

But she feels trapped, cooped up, a bird with clipped wings. She needs to stretch, to spread her wings, to grow and be free -

And she can’t do that if the little blonde bundle needs her, if she stays on the peaceful island.

Her tribe, though, her first family -  _they_  can give her the freedom she needs.

Summer catches her leaving and she apologizes, tears in her eyes, pushing Yang into her arms -

“I can’t do it, Summer. Be her mother. I can’t do this, I have to  _go_.” Her sob breaks her off and before Summer - her best friend, her leader, her  _partner_  can say otherwise, there’s a flash and wind rushing and just like Summer came into her life in a rush of white petals, Raven leaves with just a black feather falling behind.  **  
**

**At least I know we have a better chance if we try together!**

Years pass and she’s taken over the tribe, led them on raids and kept them safe from Huntsmen and Huntresses. She doesn’t go to Patch - any of her old team would recognize her in a snap of fingers - but she knows Summer and Tai are happy, raising Yang and their new daughter, Ruby. She knows because she checks on Qrow, the bad luck charm that keeps pushing his limit. He tells her what’s happened, and she acts aloof.

At least, until she feels something  **rip**  at her person, her being, her very  _soul_ , and she drops to her knees clutching her chest, swearing she can hear a familiar scream -  _Summer._

She’s through the portal in the blink of an eye, an arc of dust thrown by her sword as soon as her foot lands. She sees the black dust and looks for the white petals -

But it’s a cape, the white being stained red, the Huntress’s blades thrown far from her grip -

And she’s beside her in an instant, holding her head in her lap as silver eyes lose their light and a small smile draws across her face -

“ _I knew you’d come_ ,” Summer whispers, touching Raven’s cheek gently with bloody fingers.

“Hold still, stop talking,” she says, blinking back tears. “Your aura is low but it’s working on fixing your-“

“ _Shhh._ ” Summer’s finger presses against her lips. “Keep them safe, Raven.” She breathes out, relaxing into Raven’s grip. “We still have a chance.”

As Summer breathes out one last time, Raven bites back a scream as their bond  _severs_ , her soul screaming as Summer’s leaves Remnant, ripping away where they’d connected and melded.

**Please!**

She blinks again and she’s at Haven, looking into the silver eyes of Ruby Rose, at the girl’s tattered red cape - so like Qrow’s, so like  _Summer’s._ Her speech rings with her mother’s compassion, her optimism and naïveté, her cape the same as her mother’s was that fateful day she felt a portal close.

_You sound just like your mother._


End file.
